Fentanyl deaths have at least doubled in every state during pandemic; see state-level data and maps

Increase in number of fentanyl-related deaths from May 2019 to May 2021
(Families Against Fentanyl map; click the image to enlarge it.)

Fentanyl deaths have risen sharply during the pandemic, and some states have been particularly hard-hit, according to a new analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data by advocacy group Families Against Fentanyl. Fentanyl is a cheap but powerful synthetic opioid often added to street drugs; it causes more fatalities because it's deadly at tiny, easily misjudged doses.

The study measures recent state-level trends in fentanyl fatalities in several ways: rate of increase in fentanyl deaths during the pandemic, number of fentanyl deaths per capita in 2021, total number of fentanyl deaths in 2021, and total number of fentanyl deaths since 2015.

For instance, between May 2019 and May 2021, "Fentanyl fatalities more than doubled in 30 states in just two years, and more than tripled in 15," according to the report. Fatalities increased nearly five-fold in six states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Florida had the highest number of total fentanyl deaths in 2021, a total that more than doubled in two years.

The shortage of overdose mitigation drug naloxone since April 2021 is likely causing more deaths, many of them rural; one organizer estimated that the back-order could lead to at least 11,000 more overdose deaths.